Ch.12Black Cat

“Speaking of which, when we fought the Strike Falcon this morning.”

“Huh?”

As we finished our second day of marching and were looking for a campsite, Jessica suddenly spoke up as if something had just occurred to her.

“Thinking about it now, it was really dangerous. Remember how it ambushed us from above and behind?”

“Ah, yes. If I hadn’t avoided that surprise attack, I could have been seriously injured or even killed.”

“How did you notice it? There wasn’t even the sound of it flying or brushing against branches.”

Only then did I recall the question that had completely slipped my mind until now.

Indeed, the Strike Falcon had charged at us from above, outside our field of vision, without making any cries or wing flapping sounds. At that moment, I was able to sense a kind of killing intent approaching from above, as if detecting an invisible threat with radar, which allowed me to avoid the Strike Falcon’s ambush. If that hadn’t happened, the battle situation would have turned fatally unfavorable.

“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain… It was like a sudden danger signal popped into my head.”

“Sounds like a detection magic effect. Maybe some kind of crisis perception skill?”

“Skill?”

Could it be! One of the standard elements of isekai stories—a skill system!!

Since shouting “Status” didn’t bring up any status window, and the Frontier License card didn’t list any levels or ability scores, I thought this world was different from typical isekai novels. But if a skill system exists, there’s a possibility that I, as someone transported to another world, might have been given a cheat skill or two!

“How can I check if I have this skill thing? Is there some kind of magic that visually displays a person’s abilities or talents?”

“There’s no such convenient magic. We just analyze eyewitness accounts of people showing unusual talents in various situations and define them as ‘skills’ according to somewhat standardized criteria.”

“So that strange sense that detected the Strike Falcon’s ambush counts as a skill?”

“It’s similar to the characteristics of crisis perception skills I’ve read about in documents. It’s hard to say for certain since there’s no clear way to confirm it.”

“Hmm… I’d be happy if I really had such a talent. I guess I’ll have more chances to verify it as we travel.”

In novels, protagonists who cross over to another world are given incredibly powerful “cheat skills” that make even the title of “world’s strongest” seem laughable… Grantis seems too stingy with benefits for otherworlders, doesn’t it?

Still, having the ability to instinctively detect crisis situations that can’t be tracked visually would definitely improve the safety of my future adventuring activities, so I should be grateful for that alone. More importantly, we need to find a campsite now.

“Oh, isn’t this spot good? It’s reasonably spacious and flat.”

“You’re right. I’ll set up the tent, so please gather some firewood.”

Unlike yesterday’s generally flat forest floor, the forest we reached around sunset had very uneven ground, so it took over 30 minutes to find a suitable place for pitching a tent. In this situation, if I struggled with setting up the tent and delayed our camp preparations, that would be problematic too, so I readily left the tent to Jessica and focused on gathering firewood.

To keep a campfire burning all night, we needed fairly thick branches rather than just thin twigs. Unless we actually cut down trees, finding satisfactory fuel just by picking up fallen branches was harder than I expected. Eventually, after thoroughly searching an area somewhat distant from our campsite for 20-30 minutes, I managed to gather an armful of usable firewood.

“Unlike the forest we stayed in yesterday, it’s not easy to find good firewood here…”

*Splash*

“Huh?”

I stopped walking at the sound that reached my ears. That was definitely the sound of water—more precisely, something falling into water.

Could there be a stream or lake nearby with small animals jumping in? While we didn’t need to obsess over finding a water source since Jessica could fill containers with ice water using her magic, it would be necessary to identify any places where fierce wild animals or monsters might gather to drink.

Jessica had said her camping barrier magic creates an area that monsters and wild animals instinctively avoid approaching, but drinking water is also an instinctive need directly linked to survival. There’s no guarantee that an animal feeling desperately thirsty would prioritize its uneasy instincts over its survival instinct if the only water source gave off an uncomfortable feeling.

Moreover, the barrier magic wouldn’t be deployed until I brought back the firewood and lit the campfire. First, I should identify the water source and assess the situation around it. If it seemed beyond my ability to handle alone, I’d run back to the campsite and ask Jessica for help. I was certain of the direction and distance to our campsite.

Analyzing the situation calmly, I moved silently toward the rippling water sounds, pushing through dense bushes. As I expected, there was a small pond about 5-6 meters in diameter. However, what I hadn’t expected was that the creature there wasn’t a wild animal but a completely naked brown-skinned woman.

‘Wow…’

Since I was seeing her from behind, I couldn’t tell exactly, but her build seemed even smaller than Jessica’s. She had smooth brown skin that looked like it had been painted, a firm and well-balanced body line, and short black hair that barely covered her nape—she was an attractive girl who seemed to sparkle all over.

But what really caught my eye was something else. Cat ears protruding from the top of her head and a long tail swaying just above her buttocks. She was a beastfolk girl, the first I’d seen in Grantis. Captivated by her surreal appearance, I unconsciously leaned forward, causing the firewood I was holding to brush against the bushes with a rustling sound.

“!?”

“Whoa…!!”

The beastfolk girl quickly covered her chest area and turned around. Her youthful face, matching her small build, changed to an expression of intense wariness. Though I couldn’t undo having peeped at her bathing, I tried my best to convey that I meant “no harm.”

“S-sorry! I didn’t mean to peep! I was just gathering firewood and happened to come this way!”

“…Adventurer?”

“That’s right. I’m not an outlaw, so you can relax. I-I’ll be going now!”

After hurriedly showing my Frontier License card from the pouch at my waist, I left the place as if fleeing and returned to the campsite. No, I definitely did flee.

“Phew… I’ve brought the firewood, Jessica.”

“What’s wrong, Will? Why are you so flustered…?”

“Well… you see…”

Information sharing between teammates is important, but how much should I tell her? No matter what, I don’t have the courage to honestly say, “While gathering branches, I happened to see a naked girl bathing.”

“There’s a small pond hidden by bushes about 200 meters that way, and I ran into another adventurer there. Since we met suddenly, I just explained that I meant no harm and then came back.”

“Are you sure they were an adventurer? They might have been outlaws.”

“Come to think of it, I didn’t confirm their license card. It was a girl with cat ears.”

“…You met a beastfolk native? Here?”

Jessica’s expression hardened. Now that I think about it, humans are colonists, and other races are natives. I think I heard something about hostile natives too…

“You should put the firewood down over there and prepare for combat.”

“…Are we hostile with beastfolk?”

“Not all of them. But if it’s a cat-type beastfolk, they could be from the Yamyo tribe, which we have an awkward relationship with, or the Suoh tribe, our greatest enemies, so we should prepare for the worst.”

So not only did I peep at such a person bathing, but I also kindly identified myself as an adventurer affiliated with the Pioneer Headquarters by showing my license card. I really stepped on a landmine, and quite thoroughly at that.

“She probably saw me running back here. Should we move our campsite?”

“That would be dangerous with the sun already setting…”

“There’s no need for that.”

Startled by the girl’s voice coming from closer than expected, Jessica and I pointed our guns in the direction of the voice. There stood the brown-skinned beastfolk girl I had seen earlier, with her hands raised to head level.

“Wait. I’m from the Yamyo tribe, but I have no intention of being hostile to colonists.”

“Even if you say that…”

“If I wanted to kill you, I would have thrown my spear at the man who peeped at me bathing while he was running back here. I had plenty of opportunities.”

“Bathing…?”

“I-it was an accident! I was just gathering firewood and when I pushed through the bushes, I just happened to—!”

“Anyway, I hope you’ll believe me. I’ll hand over my spear if you want.”

Looking closely, I noticed the beastfolk girl had a spear as long as her height slung across her back. It wasn’t an ordinary spear—the blade part was long, making it look like a sword with an extended handle.

“…Jessica, rather than being openly hostile, maybe we should hear what she has to say?”

“I suppose so. Would you mind waiting while we light the campfire and set up the barrier magic? We need to hurry with our camp preparations.”

“Alright. I’ll wait.”